Travelling the Great Ocean Road by Campervan – Victoria, Australia

After road testing our Britz campervan rental on beautiful Phillip Island, we doubled back and passed Melbourne, on the way towards Torquay and the start of the legendary Great Ocean Road. We spent the night in Geelong, some 20km away, so we could get an early start for the day’s driving ahead.

The Great Ocean Road is a 243 km (150 mile) coastal road, hugging rocky cliffs and passing spectacular beaches. It was built by hand by returning World War I veterans during the Great Depression, and took 16 years to complete. Nowadays, it is one of Australia’s biggest tourist attractions, drawing millions of foreign visitors and vacationing Aussies.

The bad news for us was we were visiting during the peak holiday season. With “schoolies” (summer school holidays) in full effect, it would require a lot of effort and expense to find a campsite. While we were equipped with a camper, unfortunately there are no free camping spots along the way, meaning we can’t just pull off into a parking lot or side road to spend the night.

Unfortunately, you can't just (legally) spend the night anywhere you want with a campervan.

Unfortunately, you can't just (legally) spend the night anywhere you want with a campervan.13-Jan-2012 12:55

Here, we pulled into a rest area and put together a plan of attack. Realizing that campsites were either completely booked out or insanely expensive, we decided to just drive as far as we could the first day and try to find a campsite before nightfall.

Back in the car again, and we continued on. Clouds started rolling in and rain looked imminent. With the skies darkening and the evening approaching, we started focusing on finding a place to spend the night. We looked around at a few beachside campsites which were completely jam-packed with vacationing Aussie families. Most were full and the few that were willing to squeeze us in (usually next to the toilets or on an uneven plot), wanted to charge extortionate prices. Looking at a map, we noticed the Cape Otway National Park. Figuring at the very worst we could illegally camp somewhere quiet on the park grounds, we pushed on.

Local officials enforce policies prohibiting free camping on the Great Ocean Road.

Local officials enforce policies prohibiting free camping on the Great Ocean Road.13-Jan-2012 18:28

As we pulled into the National Park and started driving under a huge cover of gum trees, we noticed something a little odd. Yes, up in the trees…a bunch of fuzzy bottoms. Hold on a minute! Those are koalas!

Finally, with the sun setting on the day, we reached the official end of the road at Warrnambool. Once again, we found ourselves in a fight for a decent campground spot. Unfortunately, we weren’t as lucky as the previous night, and ended up shelling out AUS $52 for a loud and busy campground.